Adjustable rocking-chair



sept. 15. 1925. 1,553,689-

J. A. HILL ADJUSTABLE ROGKING CHAIR Filed Sept.l 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet llN 5@ N f m w m l f1' l m WQ w Q A E N yf Lys Patented Sept. I5, 1925.

UNITED STATES JACOB AARON HILL, F WINSTON-SALEM, NORTH CAROLTNA.

ADJUSTABLE BOOKING-CHAIR.

Application filed September 22, 1924. Serial No. 739,947.

To all 'whom t may concern: Be it known that I, JACOB A. HILL, a citizenof the United f States, residing at Winston-Salem, in the county ofForsyth and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Adjustable Rocking-Chairs; and I do declare thefollowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as l0 will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertainsto make and use the same.

This invention relates to an improved chair and one object of theinvention is to provide a chair which may be used as an l5 ordinaryrocking chair, as an arm chair with a foot and leg support and backtilted rearwardly as far as desired, and also as a reclining chair.

Another object of the invention is to provide a chair having afoot andleg support of an improved construction, with the footsupporting portionslidably connected with the leg-supporting portion, and to, provide 5ymeans for controlling sliding of the footsupporting portion is swungforwardly and upwardly byv link members connecting the leg-supportingportion with the tilting back the foot-supporting portion will be ex--tended and retracted and thus at all times kept in the proper positionwith respect to the leg-supporting portion.`

Another 4object of the invention is to so construct this chair that theamount of rearby the person occupying the chair and to further soconstruct the chair that when a person arises lfrom the chair, arresilient 4 springfmember may pull upon the foot supof a rocking chairbut may be readily trans-` formed at will into a lounging cha-ir orreolining chair.

Another object of the invention'is to sov construct this chair that whenthe back has been swung rearwardly .as far as desired, itr may be firmlybraced against additional supporting portion so that when the legrearSeat Posts 3 y omitted and the forward andrear seat r ward incline ofthe back may be controlled port anddraw it toward 'a retractedposicausing the back to be returned to the norside thereof.

Figure y3 is a vertical sectional view through the chair with the backand leg and foot supports in thenormal position.

Figure 4 is a lview similar to Fig. 3 showing the back tilted rearwardlyandthe foot and leg supports swung upwardly to the operative position.n'

This improved chair is provided with a body portion includinga seatframe 1 and seat rails 2 from which extend the front and A andjet bracedby the stretchers 5 and carryingthe rockers 6. It

p will be understood that while this chair has b een shown as a rockingchair, the body pors tioncould also be formed after the manner of anordinary armchair of the non-rocker type in which case the rockersywould be posts directly engaged with the floor. Arms 7 areprovided atthe sides of the kchair body and are suitably connected with the forwardand krear arin stands 8 and 9, the forward .arm stand beingpreferablysecured to the side seat rails and upper endsof the forwardseat posts 3 and the rear arm stands 9 being secured upon theseat framel by suitable fasteners. Bracing rods 1() may also be provided to assistin bracing and supporting thearins.

.The back of this chair is relatively high and is provided with sideposts 11 between which are secured the upper and lower back slats 12 and13,a strip 14 being secured to `lthe inner face of each of the posts 11between the slats 12 and 13 to properly space f the slats and preventthem from moving toward eachother out of theproper spaced relation.Hinges 15 are carried by the lower back slats 18 and secured to the seatframe l so that this back will be hingedly mounted and may be swung froma vertical position to a rearward incline. The lower end portions of theback post 11 extend downwardly upon opposite sides of the body portionof this chair and are adapted to engage abutment faces 16 formed byrecesses in the rear portion of the seat frame 1 so that the extent towhich the back may be swung rearwardly may be limited and contactsbetween the back post and abutment shoulders or faces 16 serveptoprevent the back from being accidentally moved'rearwardly beyond adesired amount and the hinges 15 broken or wrenched loose.

The foot and legy rest or support is positioned `at the front of thechair and consists of an upper or outer board or leaf 17 and an innerboard or leaf 18 slidably held in engagement with the outer leaf 17 bytracks forming strips 19. These strips. 19 are formed of channel ironand are secured to the side edge faces of the leaf 17 with their flangesextending toward each other over the side portions of the inner leaf asshown in Fig. 2 to slidably mount thev inner leaf. The outer board orleaf 17 is hingedly connected with the seat frame 1 by hinges 2O so thatit may be swung vertically and in order to impart the desired swingingmovement to this leg support and cause it to be adjusted according-tothe position of the back. yThere have been providedV links 21 positionedupon opposite sides of the body portion of the chair and pivot-allyconnected with the bearings 22 andv 22 carried by the channelirons 19and lower end portions of the back posts 11. From an in-` spection ofFigs. 1, 3 and 4, it will be readily seen that whenthe back is swungrearwardly fromy the normal position shown in Fig. 3 to that shown inFigs. 1 and 4, the links will be thrust forwardly and they will serve toswing the leg rests forwardly and upwardly. The weight of the leg rest,links and lower end portions of the back posts is such that when not inuse, the back may be readily swung upwardly to the vertical positionwhere it will be retained by the false arms 23 which .constitute latch'members.

These false arms are pivotally connectedV withthe back posts 11 andextend forwardly through recesses 24 formed longitudinally in the rearend portions of the arms 7. yThe lower edge faces ofthe falsev arms restupon the pins 25 extending outwardly from the rear arln stands 9 andnotches-forming rack teeth 26 are provided to receive the pins 25. Itwill thus be seen `that when the back is to be swung rearwardly to aninclined position, the false arms must be raised so that the rack teethmust pass the pins.V Then the back is at the desired incline, itissimply necessary to drop the false arms .and the pins will engage theproper rack teeth and serve to prevent the back from moving rearwardlyany further. The teeth may however easily ride over the side pins whenthe back is returned to the vertical position shown in Fig. 3 and whenin this position, the rear teeth of the rack will engage with the sidepins and prevent rearward movement of the back until the false arms havebeen again lifted.

The sliding foot board 18 is to be yieldably held against outwardmovement and further supported so that when the outer leaf 17 is swungupon its hinges 20, sliding movement will be imparted to the foot boardor inner leaf. Therefore, thisfoot board has been provided with slots 27adjacent its sides and with an intermediate slot 28 between the slots27. The slot 28 is open at its rear end as shown in Fig. 2 to receivethe spring 29, one end of which is secured to a hook or other suitablefastener 30 carried by the outer leaf 17 and the forward end of which issecured to a staple or other suitable fastener 31 driven into the innerleaf at the forward end of the slot 28. This spring` serves to normallykretain the foot board in a retracted position as shown in Fig. 3, butpermits it to be swung outwardly when the outer leaf `is swung upwardly.Pulley housings are secured to the rear or underface of the outer leaf.and extend through the slots 27. These pulley housings 32 carry pulleywheels 33 which are engaged by the chains 34e. Each chain 34 isengagedfintermediate its length with its `co-operating pulley wheel andhas its end portions extending rearwardly, one end being connected witha hook or other fastener 35 carried by the v foot board 18 and the otherend of the chain being secured to a fastener 36 carried by the frontseat rail of the body portion of the chair. It will be readily seen thatwhen the leg support or outer panel 17 is swung upwardly, the chains areheld stationary at their connections with the fasteners 36 and thereforethe chains will be drawn through the pulley housings 32 about the wheels33 and lwill draw upon ythe footV board and cause it to be slidoutwardly to the extended position ,against the action of the spring 29.

When the leg support swings downwardly to the normal position, thespring will be allowed to contract and in doing so will return the footboard to the retracted position. It will thus be seen that there hasbeen provided' a chair which can be used as a rocker with the parts inthe position shown in Fig. 3, or the back may be swung rearwardly a`desired amount or for its entire extent and the chair used either as alounging chai-r or reclining chair, the leg and foot support being ofcourse swung upwardly and the 'foot support extended an amountcorresponding to the extent of rearward incline of the back.

While the preferred form of chair has been illustrated and describedspecifically, it will be understood that this is only the preferred formand that the details of construction may be modified in accordance withthe scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A chair comprising a body, a back pivotally connected with said bodyfor swinging movement from an upright to a reclining position, a footand leg support. including a main member pivotall connected with thefront of said body or vertical swinging movement and an auxiliary menivber slidably connected with the main member for extension beyond thefree end of the main member, means actuated from said back forvertically swinging the main inember of said support when said back ismoved, means connected to said body and said auxiliary member forautomatically sliding the latter outwardly when the main member swingsupwardly, and means for retracting the auxiliary member when the mainmeinber swings downwardly.

2. The structure of claim l having the means for moving the auxiliarymember outwardly consisting of liexible means having one end connectedwith the auxiliary member and its other end with the chair body, andguide means carried by the main member with the flexible means insliding engagement with the guide means whereby upon upward swingingmovement of the l5 main member pull will be exerted upon the flexiblemeans to draw the auxiliary member forwardly and outwardly.

3. The structure of claim 1 having the means for moving the auxiliarymember c means to draw upon the flexible means and f move the auxiliarymember outwardly when the main member is swung upwardly.

4. The structure of claim 1 having the auxiliary member provided withlongitudinally extending slots adjacent its sides and an open endedlongitudinally extending slot leading from its inner end intermediateits width, a spring disposed longitudinally in the intermediate slot andhaving its rear end connected with the main member and its forward endconnected with the auxiliary member, guide pulleys carriedfby the mainmember and extending through the side slots of the auxiliary member, andflexible means slidably engaged with the pulleys and having their endportions extending rearwardly and connected with the chair body andinner end portion of the auxiliary member.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature.

JACOB AARON HILL.

